1. Field of the Invention
The field pertinent to this disclosure relates generally to gaming, and more particularly to brokering games between game players and game providers.
2. Discussion of Related Art
People enjoy playing games and often regard the experience of winning by playing a game to be more valuable than that of the prize itself. Just the chance to win a prize provides considerable entertainment value. Conventional game organizers provide opportunities for such gaming entertainment by organizing and managing games for the game playing community. These game organizers often rely on their own skill, experience and interest to decide upon which games to broker, what the characteristics of the game should be and to which players the game may be of interest. Often, these game organizers draw upon their pre-existing social networks when organizing and managing these games. A particular and interesting example of a frequently brokered game is the fantasy league game.
A fantasy league game (also known as rotisserie, roto, or owner simulation) is a game where fantasy owners build a team that competes against other fantasy team owners based on the statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport or people participating in a real world event. Probably the most common variant converts statistical performance into points that are compiled and totaled according to a roster selected by a team owner that makes up a fantasy team. These point systems are typically simple enough to be manually calculated by a game broker often called a “league commissioner.” More complex variants use computer modeling of actual games based on statistical input generated by the real world event. In fantasy sports, for example, there is the ability to trade, cut, and resign players, like a real sports owner. Some of fantasy games require entry fees while others may be played without a fee.
Fantasy league games are an outgrowth of Rotisserie Baseball created by journalist, Daniel Okrent. Okrent, eager to test his invention, introduced the games to his friends and colleagues and in 1980 the first fantasy baseball league was created consisting of ten teams. By the late 1980s, the game had surpassed its cult status, and in 1989, The Sporting News estimated that nearly 500,000 people played. By the early 1990s, rotisserie baseball led to rotisserie football and basketball, which spawned a multitude of other fantasy games.
Today, fantasy sports have evolved to cover almost every sport genre: auto racing, baseball, basketball, bicycle racing, bowling, boxing, cricket, dog racing, fishing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, figure skating, volleyball, softball, horse racing, lacrosse, rugby, skiing, soccer, tennis, and even tug of war. These fantasy games are played nationally and internationally by millions of dedicated users. With the success of fantasy sports leagues, other types of fantasy leagues emerged. For example, Fantasy Moguls is like a fantasy baseball or football league, except instead of being the owner of a fantasy team that consists of real life athletes, participants are the head of a fantasy studio of real-life movies.
Although playing fantasy games is a popular activity, a great percentage of the worldwide populations do not play. This is true even after excluding underage persons, those with insufficient disposable income or technical wherewithal and those with a religious or other belief that prevents them from partaking in fantasy league play as recreation.